


I believe He's Mine

by dancinluv



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-05-03
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-22 03:52:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 15,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3713923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dancinluv/pseuds/dancinluv
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abbie finds herself jealous of a new woman Crane becomes acquainted with.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Babysitting comes with a price

**Author's Note:**

> Hey just want to let you guys know the way this story begins probably won't make sense and wonder how this has anything to do with what the summary says but I promise you guys it will makes sense in the next couple of chapters. Ichabod won't stay a little kid for long, trust me. Ichabod will be an adult soon, like in the next chapter. Ichabod and Abbie will have intimate moments later throughout the story. Thanks for baring with me guys.

Jenny pounds on Abbie's door with urgency. Abbie just finished soaking in a nice warm bath. The sound of loud banging at the door has her rushing to get dressed. She puts on a pair of jeans and zips up her fly hurrying to the door. Jenny bangs on the door a few more times. "Alright, alright!" Abbie shouts. She briefly fixes her hair, giving it one good flip out from underneath her ends, she pulls the bottom of her shirt down to her waist from her mid abdomen. When she opens the door she sees Jenny standing impatiently with a little brown haired boy, who looked no older than eight years old shifting from foot to foot next to her. He runs inside Abbie's house before Abbie had a chance to say anything. Abbie looks behind her at the strange kid who makes himself at home by making his way to her couch. He picks up a peoples magazine from off of her coffee table. She whips her head back in Jenny's direction.

"Please tell me you just picked up a babysitting gig."

"Very funny Abbie." Jenny slaps Abbie arm as she brushes past her. "I wish that was the case." Jenny walks straight into the kitchen to raid the fridge for any beer. She finds one last bottle of Heineken and helps herself to it.

"Who does that little boy belong to?" Abbie meets her sister in the kitchen staring back at the little boy, who is now playing on her ipad.

"No one." She puts the bottle down on the counter and opens a small drawer to pull out a bottle opener. "You'll never guess what happened. It's been an interesting start of the morning." She mumbles to herself "Ughh.... I can't believe I asked for Crane's help."

"Mind telling me what's going on?" Abbie leans on the counter facing Jenny.

"That little boy over there" she points in his direction. "That little boy is Crane."

Abbie laughs and snickers. "Really Jenny?"

"Really. I'm telling the truth." she takes a swig of her beer, using the back of her hand to wipe the moisture of beer residue from her lips.

"Bullshit." Abbie peeks over shoulder looking at the little boy who was now engrossed in a game of candy crush on Abbie's ipad.

"I kid you not Abbs. He's been a headache since this morning." she eyes the boy with a nasty glare.

"Okay, okay. I'll entertain the idea." she said through small chuckles. "How did this happen?"

"Okay so, this morning, I went by Hawley's old place to look for a charm he'd promised me before he skipped town. He of course, didn't bother to remember and left without handing me my token. I decided to get the damn thing myself. I needed Crane's assistance to help be a lookout for me in case any nosy neighbors caught me sneaking inside his place."

"So basically you were breaking and entering?" Abbie gives Jenny a scolding look, like she should know better than to commit a felony.

"Yes I was breaking and entering" she quickly wraps up in one breath ".. but that's not the point."

Abbie raises her brows questionably "It's not."

"No!.... Can I finish?" she spats out in a low whisper, being mindful of her voice level so Ichabod couldn't hear.

"Yes. Go ahead." she waves her hand for her to continue, cutting her eyes to the counter.

"Once I was inside, I had asked Crane to keep watch for me. It took me a minute to locate the charm. Found it in Hawley's sock drawer, it's where he keeps his special jewels. Nothing worse than rummaging through a drawer full of smelly unwashed socks. Eck!" she quivers at the thought.

"How did you know to look there?"

"On a night we hooked up, I remember Hawley revealing to me where he hides his most sacred valuables. Lucky for me, he failed to spot this talisman-" she pulls the talisman from her pant pocket and holds it up in front of Abbie "- that laid hidden buried under a pile of dirty socks in the back of the drawer. Little did I know what it did and that's when Crane tapped me on my shoulder from behind startling me. So when I jumped and turned around, I had dropped the talisman on the floor. Crane picks it up and examines it. Next thing I knew I see a bright flash which nearly blinded me and that's how _that_ happened." she explained gesturing her hand out in Crane's direction.

"Soo... the talisman has the power to turn someone into a little kid?" Abbie was even more confused.

"I suppose so." Jenny throws her hands up in the air, shrugging her shoulders.

"I still don't understand how Crane could have activated it if he was just innocently holding it."

"I don't either. You got me. Well. wait a minute ..hmm.. I remember when he was holding it, his thumb rubbed across an illustration engraved in the stone. Maybe that could have had something to do with it. Anyways, next thing I knew. I felt something tugging at my shirt and looked down to see a little kid with long brown locks wearing oversized clothing, practically swimming in them." She pulls out her cell to check the time. "Oh man. I 'm gonna be late."

"Late for what?" Abbie looks at her perplexed.

"Late for my date."

"Date?"

Jenny throws her beer in the trash can and rushes out the kitchen. Abbie follows. "Yeah, I'm suppose to meet my date in thirty minutes. I need to go home and change. Don't have time to explain." she said in one breath. She stops at the door and turns to face Abbie "and I need a small favor from you." Jenny hunches her back, nervously smiling at Abbie. "I need you to watch Crane until I can figure out how to undo the spell."

Abbie shakes her head side to side repeatedly "No Jenny. No. Absolutely not. I don't have time to babysit-"

"Abbs, it'd only be for one night. Please, please, please." she begs.

Abbie thinks about it for a few minutes. She looks over at Crane who is praising himself for beating another level in Candy Crush Saga. She then looks at Jenny, rolls her eyes and lets out a defeated sigh. "Okay fine, but only for one night Jenny."

"Yes, yes. Just one night. Thanks Abbs. I will definitely make it up to you." she said giving her sister a tight hug.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." She waves her hand dismissively at her sister.

"Oh! and I stopped at target on the way here to buy Crane some clothes he can fit into. They're in my car. Be right back." Jenny dashes outside and runs over to her car to fetch Crane's clothes. Abbie leers at little Crane who is comfortably sitting on her couch with his legs folded holding the Ipad in his lap. She couldn't help but smile at this cute young Crane who is now consumed in, plants vs. zombies, she assumed judging by the noises of deep growling and repeatedly hearing the creatures saying the word 'brains'

Jenny comes back in with a duffle bag. "Here- " she hands the bag to Abbie "Okay, gotta go. Have fun with that one." she looks and nods her head in Cranes direction.

"I'm sure it won't be that bad." Abbie said shrugging her shoulders.

Jenny laughs at her sister "Yeah" she shoots her sister an  _if you say so_ look and closes the door behind her.

Abbie takes the bag in her bedroom and drops it on the floor by her closet. She comes back to the living room and finds Crane missing. She walks closer to the couch and sees nothing but her Ipad sitting on the cushion.

"Crane?" she called out. Out of nowhere she hears a loud crash coming from the kitchen and immediately goes to investigate. Crane standing on her kitchen counter eating an oreo cookie. Pieces of broken porcelain are splayed all over her floor. Judging by the amount of pieces that covered most of her kitchen floor, she assumed about four dishes were damaged. She looks at Crane who is doing his best to look as innocent as possible while nibbling on his cookie.

"Are you alright?" Crane just nods his head yes. She sighs in relief and squats down to pick up the shattered pieces. Crane just stares at her, unconcerned by the whole situation. He finally sits himself down on the counter top swinging his legs, banging the heel of his shoes against the lower cabinets. Abbie stops what she's doing and looks at him. He looks back at her grinning cheerfully. She stands up and throws the broken pieces in her trash can. "I'm going to go get a broom. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." she said in a serious tone. She leaves the kitchen, Ichabod hops down from the counter and opens her fridge. He eyes a can of coke sitting on the top shelf. He takes it, closes the fridge door and shakes the can as fast as he could. Abbie returns with a broom and dust pan. Before she starts sweeping the remainder of the pieces onto the dustpan, Ichabod stretches his arm out offering her the can of coke.

"Here, aren't you thirsty. I feel bad for breaking your plates. I'm sorry." He nudges the coke can against her abdomen, trying to get her to take the can from his hand. Abbie accepts the can of coke graciously.

She smiles acceptingly. "It's alright, Thanks Ichabod." she was about to put the can on the counter when Ichabod stops her

"No! Wait. Aren't you going to drink your coke?"

"Maybe later. I have to get this mess cleaned up before either one of us get hurt." she proceeds to position the broom in her hands to begin sweeping. He stops her again.

"Well, then, may I have a sip of your coke. It was the last can."

"Yeah sure." she reaches over to grab the can and hands it to Ichabod.

"Can you open it for me?"

Abbie just looks at him quizzically "Uh, yeah sure, I can." She sets the broom stick aside and slides her finger under the metal tab. Ichabod stares anxiously while watching her finger pull the tab up slowly. He couldn't help but snicker thinking about the surprise waiting for her once she snaps it open.

Abbie pulls the tab all the way to it's limit and snaps the top open. Tons of carbonated brown liquid sprays out from the can all over Abbie's shirt, hair and face.

She yelps out in surprise and slams the can down on the counter. Ichabod laughs menacingly.

"That's funny" he said pointing and laughing at Abbie.

Abbie flashes him a false sweet grin "Yep, very funny." she said with sarcasm. He continues to laugh while she rips a piece of paper towel off of the wall mount and wipes away sticky residue off of her face then rubs her shirt down.  Ichabod grabs the can of coke and leaves to return to the couch. Abbie was kind of glad he left. She needed to collect herself and try her best to refrain from getting upset from the prank he just pulled. After finishing cleaning herself off, she grabs the broomstick and proceeds to sweep up the rest of the broken pieces off of the floor.

Ichabod turns the television on and flips through a bunch of channels. He comes across a nickelodeon show that peeked his interest. 

"Glad that's done." all the pieces were swept up. She puts the broom aside and steps out the kitchen. "Ichabod can you come here for minute please." He pretends to not hear her. "Ichabod, Ichabod" she raises her voice a little louder. He turns up the volume. "Ichabod, Ichabod!" she shouts over the tv. He turns the volume up a little higher. She was starting to get impatient with him. Huffing irritatingly, she walks over to the couch and snatches the remote out of his hand. He whips his head around giving her a sour look. She pushes the power button to turn the tv off. She looks back at him displeased.

"Did you not hear me calling you?"

"Nope." he responded shaking his head swiftly side to side.

"Mmm,, hmm,, " she wasn't convinced. She knew damn well he heard and chose to ignore her.

"I think you and I need to have a talk"

He whines in protest. She walks around the couch and sits right beside him. It was obvious when Crane had changed into a child, his memories of being a soldier in a revolutionary war from the 17th century were erased. Abbie had to remember to address him in a way that would relate to his age range.

"Seeing that you will be spending the night here, in my house, there are rules you will need to follow. He just stares at her.His expression unreadable. "Rule number one: no more pranks. Rule number two: If you'd like a snack, you must ask for my permission to have one and _I_   will get it for you. No more trying to get snacks yourself. Rule number three: You must also ask for my permission to touch my _things_ , like my Ipad for example. Rule number four: you cannot leave the house. Rule number five: You will go to bed when _I_ say so. Is that clear?"

He nods his head yes looking as angelic as he can. "Good." she grins pleasingly. "Follow the rules and we'll get along just fine."

Abbie pats him on his leg before she gets up from the couch. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes." he said timidly. His eyes follow her as she heads to the kitchen. He watches her steadily until she was out of sight. He quickly hops off the couch and runs into her bedroom.

"What would like to eat?" She opens the refrigerator door to see what she had leftover. "Hmm...lets see, I have, three slices of pizza from last night, and some potato salad. Oh and I also have peanut butter and jelly. I could make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. So those are your choices. Any of those things sound good to you.?" She doesn't hear a response. "Ichabod?" She closes the fridge door and walks near the kitchen entrance. "Ichabod?" she calls again. She steps out of the kitchen to find him missing from the couch, again. "Ichabod!,,,,, Now where did you go" she mumbles. "Ichabod" she called for the final time.

"I'm right here." Ichabod appears from around the bedroom door.

"What were you doing in my bedroom?"

"Nothing." he swings his arms around behind his back, swaying side to side.

"Uh huh." Abbie gives him the most skeptical look. "Why don't you sit at the dining room table while I fix your dinner."

He scampers past her to the dining room. Abbie had an unsettling feeling that led her to investigate her room. All her perfumes, jewelry displayed on her vanity was untouched. Her hand mirror, table lamp, the mirror hanging on the wall near her closet unbroken. Could he been telling the truth. Did he really doing nothing in her room. She walks to her closet Carefully, she steps over Jenny's duffle bag by the closet door. She slides the closet door opened and.....

Ichabod sits obediently and patiently with his hands folded on the table when he hears...... "AAAAHHHH!!!" An impish grin appears on his face followed by a mischievous giggle.

"ICHABOD!!!!" he hears Abbie shouting from her bedroom. Abbie comes storming out with paint splattered in her hair, all over shirt and jeans. Fortunately Abbie was quick enough to shield herself from getting paint splashed on her face. She had hoped this would be an easy night for her but he was not going to allow her that luxury.

His laughter ceases when he hears Abbie approaching. On her way to the dining room she stops and takes in a deep breath to compose herself before confronting Ichabod. She continues forward in a more calm demeanor. Ichabod doesn't turn around to look at her. He continues to look straight ahead at a chair across from him the table.

"You broke rule number one which was?...." she asked in a low key tone.

"Mmmm, I don't know" he replied shrugging his shoulders.

"No. More. Pranks." she adjusts her stance, putting her hands on her hips.

"Ichabod, can you turn around and look at me." she demanded.

He twists his body to the side to face Abbie. As soon as he gets a good look at the damage the paint left on her clothes he quickly covers his mouth to stifle back his laughter. "This is not amusing."

"Yes it is" he said in between laughter.

"No, it's not. Now, you are going to clean up that mess inside my closet." she points in the direction of her bedroom.

His laughter continues. "I'm serious Ichabod." she moves closer to his chair and towers over him. His giggling stops when he sees the expression on her face, clearly telling him that she means business.

"Fine." he maneuvers out of his chair and folds his arms across his chest as he drags his feet to her bedroom and pouting. Abbie walks close behind. This time she planned on keeping an eye on him to make sure he does as he's told.

 


	2. My evening with Ichabod and My morning with Crane

Ichabod kept thinking of a way out of his punishment. He wasn't going to let this strange woman, who he had no clue as to who she was to him, make him clean up a mess that he believed he had nothing to do with. It wasn't his fault the can of paint was on the upper shelf above where her clothes had hung. It wasn't his fault she conveniently had a small step stool for him to stand on to get a better look at her comic book collection he easily spotted as soon as he'd opened her closet door. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't his fault the can of paint tipped over the shelf on it's own, in his defense. All he did was grab a hanger off of the closet rod and maybe nudge the paint to the edge of the shelf to make it easier for him to reach one of the comic books. Maybe he noticed the can of paint was a little off balanced. Maybe he could have pushed the can back on a more solid surface to prevent it from falling. Maybe he could have warned Abbie or asked for Abbie's help, Yes he could have been kind enough to do just that but he had no interest in being kind towards a woman who throws stupid rules at him, depriving him of a little harmless fun.  He felt the whole thing seemed unfair in his mind. 

They were about to approach her room. He needed to scheme up some type of ploy fast that would get him out of this mess. A brilliant idea quickly came to mind.  A trick he knew she'd fall for. He stops at the threshold of her bedroom and keels over pretending to be in pain.

"Ooohh. I don' feel so good." he said in his most pathetic voice.  Abbie was conflicted. Half of her had a hard time believing him and the other half wanted to rush to his aid.

She stands by his side. He is curled up in a fetal position on the floor. She looks down at him suspiciously. "If this is your way of getting out of cleaning up the mess you caused inside my closet, it's not gonna work. Come on. Get up."

"I really don't feel well MIss- Miss-?." he said weakly looking up at her with an agonized pained expression.

"You can call me Abbie. I'm not falling for it Ichabod."

"Ohhhh- it hurts. My stomach hurts. Please. I'm sorry. I can't. It hurts"

She huffs and rolls her eyes excepting the fact he might be telling her the truth. She uncrosses her arms and stoops down to his level. "You want me to take you to Urgent Care?"

"No, I want to. Want to- lie down."

"Well, if it's that serious, maybe I should take you to the hospital." she looked at him with more concern.

He shakes his head quickly no.

"Okay. We don't have to go to the hospital. How bad is your pain?"

He uncurls his body and props up on his side leaning on his inside elbow looking less pained .  "Not real bad." he said slowly.

"Okay, well, lets get you up. Don't worry about cleaning up the mess in the closet. I'll take care of that while you lie on the couch."

She stands up and bends half way giving him her hand. He pushes himself up and reaches for her hand. She helps him up and walks him to the couch. He plops down on the cushion. Abbie kneels down to take off his shoes. Her eyes momentarily look up at his. A part of her heart melted when she saw his angelic innocence behind his baby blues. He watched her as she unlaced his sneaker. As much as the young Crane had been a pain in her ass ever since Jenny brought dropped him off that evening, she couldn't help but find him cute and adorable. It was hard for her to stay mad at him. His eyes briefly meets hers giving her the sweetest loving smile. It shed any doubt residing inside her mind to think he might of been dishonest about his stomach pains. He smiles at her because he sees the word 'sucker' displayed across her forehead. She smiles sincerely back at him in return.

Abbie finished untying the one shoe, slides it off his foot and begins unlacing the other. When she finishes with the other shoe she tickles his foot letting him know in her own way she's no longer upset. He giggles out loud and tucks his foot underneath his other leg. She straightens all the way up. He lies back on the couch.

"You want a glass of water?" Abbie asked in a soft warm tone.

He shakes his head slowly no.

"You want anything to drink?"

He shakes his head slowly yes.

"What would you like to drink?"

"Apple juice."

"I don't think I have any apple juice. How about grape juice?"

Smiling, he shakes his head quickly yes.

"Are you hungry?"

He shakes his head yes again.

"Would you like me to make you a peanut butter and jelly sandwich."

He shakes his head no.

"How about.. left over pizza?"

Smiling, he shakes his head yes.

Abbie smiles pleasingly. "Left over pizza it is then."

She grabs the remote control off of the coffee table, turns on the television then hands the remote to Ichabod.

"Go ahead and watch tv while I fix your dinner."

He changes the stations until he comes across a 3D animated movie that was playing on HBO.

Abbie opens the fridge, pulls out the box of pizza and sets it on the counter. She opens the cupboard and pulls out a plate. She lifts up the lid  to the pizza box, grabs the last three slices and places them on top of the plate and puts in the microwave. Abbie quickly checks herself out, forgetting how filthy she was. She decided to clean herself up after she'd serve Ichabod his dinner and there was still the mess in the closet that still needed attending. All of that would have to wait until she'd had her bath.

A beeping noise went off on the microwave alerting Abbie the pizza's done.  She gets oven mitts to grab the plate. Abbie walks out the kitchen with a tray in her hands.

"Alright Ichabod, your pizza is done. Are you okay to sit up?"

He looks up in her direction. "I think so." He slowly sits himself up, still pretending to recover from his so called upset stomach.

Abbie sets the tray down on the coffee table. "I'll be right back. Did you need anything else while I'm in the kitchen?"

He shakes his head no. She smiles and heads back into the kitchen. She opens the fridge and grabs the plastic container of grape fruit juice and pours a glass. Ichabod grabs the tray off the coffee table and sets it on his lap. Abbie comes out of the kitchen with the glass of juice.

"There you go." she hands him his juice. "I'm gonna go clean myself up. Can I trust you to stay put while I'm gone?"

Ichabod shakes his head yes and shows her a persuasive smile. Abbie smiles back and heads to the bathroom. Ichabod grabs a slice of pizza and takes a huge bite out of it. He chews happily, swinging his legs back and forth and hums a tune while eating.

Abbie turns the knob on the tiled wall to run the water. She gets undressed and throws her clothes inside the wicker hamper near her sink. Carefully she steps inside her tub and sinks down into the warm water. She dips her hair back into the water to get it nice and soaked. No point in savoring her straight hair, she knew she'd have to wash out what little paint splattered in her hair. She lifts her head up and grabs the shampoo bottle sitting on the side of the tub.

Ichabod finishes his last slice of pizza and drinks down the rest of his juice. He sets the tray on the coffee table and sits back against the couch. Suddenly he heard a loud thump that came from the roof.  He looks up and around to pinpoint where the sound came from. The sound of a car honking it's horn brought his attention back to the movie. Abbie needed the time alone, even if it was just for ten minutes. It was nice to have a relaxing moment to herself. She kept thinking about how Ichabod could be such a terror as a little kid. It had never crossed her mind. To her he seemed so well mannered, and such a gentleman. She wondered if he'd was the same with his father, pulling pranks, giving him a hard time. She'd think back in his era fathers were strict enough not to allow their children to get away with shenanigans. The Crane she is familiar with acts as if he was brought up well, so it was hard for her to believe this is how he'd behaved as a young boy.  Abbie continued to scrub and rinse her hair reflecting on the crazy evening.

The movie was near done. Ichabod felt himself getting tired. Every time his eyes were closing he'd force them back open. He couldn't let the night end without sliding in one more antic.

Abbie finishes bathing.  Conveniently there was a towel for her to grab nearby, drying herself off as quickly a possible so she can check on Ichabod. She wraps the towel around her body. As soon as she walks inside her bedroom, she makes a disgruntled noise after eying the amount of paint that still needed tending to on the floor.  

"Damn" she mumbled to herself. She hurries to dress in her pajamas so she can get to work.

After Abbie took care of the mess she goes to check up on Ichabod. He's gone.

_Here we go again_.

"Ichabod, Ichabod." she called out. The sound of the toilet flushing directs her attention toward the bathroom. He slowly walks out.

"I had to use the bathroom." he scratches the top of his head looking sleepy. "Can I go to bed now?"

Abbie sighs in relief.. "Yes. Of course. I have clothes for you to change into. Lets get you dressed for bed." she places her hand on his back and turns him around to walk him to her bedroom. She opens the duffel bag and pulls out a grey t-shirt with Marvel characters on it and blue cotton sweat pants.

"You can change in here. Just open the door when you're done." He nods in understanding.

Abbie leaves the room closing the door behind her and waits patiently. He quickly changes into his night wear and opens the door.

"You can sleep in my room tonight. I'm going to sleep on the couch." she walks to the right side of the bed and pats it signaling him to come over to her side. He walks to her side and gets in bed. She pulls the covers and tucks him in.

"Are you going to be okay? How's does your stomach feel?"

"I'm better. Thank you Abbie."

"Your welcome. Good night Ichabod." Abbie turns out the light and gently strokes his hair as she turns to leave.

"Wait." Ichabod sits up. "I'm scared of the dark."

"Do you want me to leave the light on?"

"Yes please."

She turns the light back on "Is that better?"

"Yes." he smiles appreciatively.

"Okay. Good night." she leaves the room.

He lies back down and pulls the covers up to his chin. It wouldn't be long before he felt drowsy again. He adjusts his body into a comfortable position. Content with lying on his side he relaxes his body and shuts his eyes.

 

Later in the evening, Abbie is stirred awake when she hears Ichabod screaming from her room.  She quickly jumps up from the couch and runs to her bedroom. She sees Ichabod sitting up in the bed and reaching out for her, crying.

"What is it? what's wrong?" she said in a panic.

"I saw something in the closet. It was a monster." he explains in tears.

Abbie sits on the bed behind him and cradles her arms around him. Ichabod buries his face in her shoulder weeping away. She rubs his back consoling him until he calmed down. "sshhhh. It's okay, it's alright. I'm here now. Sshhhh..'

He lifts his head and looks at her with teary eyes. "Is the monster gone?"

She smiles at him reassuringly "Yes Ichabod. The monster is gone... I don't think you'll have anything to worry about. Monsters for one, hate the light. Maybe you just had a bad dream."

"No, no. Not a dream. I saw something. It moved inside the closet. I saw it."

"Are you sure?" she takes a quick look at the closet then back at Ichabod. She had to pretend that monsters didn't exist for young Ichabod's sake, even though she knew there really were monsters out there but the chances of finding one in her home was very slim.

"Yes I'm sure. Can you look in the closet?"  Abbie could tell by the fear in his eyes how genuinely scared he was.

"Okay. I'll check." She gets up and walks to the closet. She peeks inside. Ichabod watches her with worried eyes. After thoroughly checking behind her clothing and anywhere else monsters would hide she looks back at Ichabod and winks.

"The monster must have ran away. I think we scared it off."

"It's gone?'

"Yes Ichabod. The monster is gone. You don't have to worry about the monster anymore. Now, time to go back to sleep."

She tucks him in again.

"Abbie?"

"Yes Ichabod." she responds while pulling the covers over his legs.

"I don't think I can sleep. Can you sleep in here with me tonight?"

She straightens up looking unsure. "Ichabod I don't think-"

"-please Abbie. Just in case the monster comes back. " he gives her the puppy dog eyes.

She sighs, and gives in. "Okay I'll stay here with you tonight. Scoot over." It was hard for her to say no, especially when he looked at her in such a pitiful way.

He slides over to his right to make room for her. She swings her legs on the bed and lies on her side. He lies on his side as well facing Abbie. " If I'm sleeping in here tonight, I am going to have to turn the light off. It's hard for me to sleep with any light."

"No light?"

"Don't worry, I'll be here, right next to you. So if the monster does decide to come back, he'll have to deal with me first." She touches his arm tenderly in comfort. "Don't worry I'll be here to protect you, alright?"

He nods his head. She twists to turn the light off on the end table. He scoots closer to Abbie needing to feel safe by her side.

She slides her hand underneath her pillow and stares closely at Ichabod as much of him she could see through darkness. She wanted making certain he'd be okay. She watches over him until he fell asleep. Ichabod stares back at Abbie, his eyes slowly close as he drifts into sleep. She wasn't sure what really had riled him up earlier. Must of been a nightmare. It was the only conclusion she could come up with. She put the thought to rest and allowed her body to ease into sleep herself.

 

The morning sun peeks through her curtains, Abbie stretches her body and gradually opens her eyes. She yawns and looks over to see the back of a full set of hair, his bare upper back and his _bare lower lower_  back as her eyes surveyed his whole entire body. She quickly sits up and scoots all the way back into a sitting position, surprised to see the spell had worn off and returned Ichabod to his adult self, _naked!_ It was a good thing he was lying on his stomach. Who knows how much more of a show he'd present to her if he'd been lying on his back.  She also noticed the clothes he worn the night before had been torn apart from his growth which explains his nudity.

Crane jerked his head up after feeling the bed move from Abbie's quick movement. He turns his head to look in her direction and blinks his eyes twice.

"Miss Mills?" he asked still lethargic looking confused. "What are you doing in my bed?"

Abbie just looked stunned and embarrassed. Her face was on fire, feeling awkward she saw more of Crane than she intended on ever seeing. Her eyes dart to his rare end then back to his eyes in one swift move before she answers him " Uh -uh -uh, um I -ah- I - You don't remember what happened yesterday?"

"No, I believe I don't" he said sounding more awake. He takes a look around the room and realized it wasn't his bed she was in, it wasn't even the cabin. Then he felt a cold chill all over his back side and pushes his chest up off the bed and looks down observing the fact he is not wearing any clothes. "Oh dear me! " he said in shock and quickly grabs the blanket to cover himself. He rolls on his back to sit up on the opposite side of the bed looking mortified. A wave of shame rushed to his face turning his cheeks red. He combs his hand through his hair. "How-how did this happen?" he couldn't make eye contact at that moment. It would have been uncomfortable for him.

Abbie slowly gets out of bed and moves a little further away to give him and herself enough distance to have this conversation. She couldn't get the image of Crane's ass out of her mind. During her quick examination she observed how nice his cheeks were and the fact that he had an ass was a bonus in her book of what physical aspect her type of man should have, not that she'd ever grab his ass but the thought did flash through her mind in one split second.

"Um- do you remember the talisman you helped Jenny steal from Hawley's?"

He takes a moment to think back at the events that happened yesterday with his outing with Jenny. He remembered helping being a look out for her and then checking in on her to see if she was alright after he'd called her name three times to alert her someone was approaching Hawley's place. He did remember tapping her on the shoulder and scaring her half to death causing Jenny to drop the talisman. He also remembered picking up the item but couldn't remember the rest of what happened afterwards.

"Yes. I remember the talisman. When I had held it in my hand, I remember blacking out, nothing more than waking up in your room, my body uncovered and bare to you." he then turned his head to look at her puzzled as he said the last part. "Do I dare ask, why you were, in bed with me." he asked softly.

"Because you had asked me to sleep with you-" she slaps her forehead and backtracks after hearing how that must of sounded. He looked even more flustered "- I mean you had wanted me to spend the night by your side. You thought you saw a monster in my closet and was afraid the monster was going to come after you so, I, promised to stay with you and protect you from the _scary_ monster." she said teasingly.  "Anyways, _the_ talisman turned you into a little kid"

"ah, I see" his expression was now perplexed.

"I tell ya one thing. It was not an easy night handling you."

"I don't follow?"

"Meaning you were a pain in my ass." she walks over to her closet door and opens it. "You made sure to set up a nice surprise for me in here" she points to the empty paint cans sitting on the floor. "I had to clean up a huge amount of paint, most of it which had spilled onto me and what ever was left over on the floor. It took me a good hour to get myself and the floor cleaned up. Good thing the paint didn't sit long enough to dry which made it easier to clean."

"Wait, did you say I had caused the damage that was done inside your wardrobe?"

"Yep"

He looks at her with remorse. "Oh, I am truly sorry Miss Mills. I had no idea I was such a terror."

"Neither did I, and that wasn't the first prank you pulled."

"It wasn't?"

"Nope, you made sure I had I a nice soda shower."

"Soda- shower?"

"You shook up a can of coke, and of course, I got sprayed." she flatly explained.

He looked appalled and was disgusted with himself after hearing how he had treated Abbie. "Please forgive me Miss Mills, I certainly shall find a way to make it up to you."

"No biggie. You're back to your old self again and that's what matters."  She smiles and makes her way out the room. She stops at the door way to say one more thing "I'm going to drive by the cabin and get your clothes. I shouldn't be long." He nods. She leaves the room.

He couldn't remember acting with such disobedience as a young boy. He kept pondering his actions and tried to remember if his father ever had trouble with him at a young age. He suddenly felt nature calling and got out of bed to head to the bathroom. He walks inside the bathroom and lifts up the toilet seat. As soon as he releases his fluids he feels something wet impacting his face. He squeezed his eyes shut, holds his hand out to shield his face. He notices something shiny stretched across the toilet seat. He bends down to take a closer look. From what he could make out, it was a piece of thin plastic material. He pulls the plastic film off of the seat so he may empty himself without harm. He assumed it was another one of his antics he must of have set up for poor Abbie. More disgust coursed through his body knowing he'd have the nerve to find it humorous to make someone, such as Abbie, look foolish. An awful, guilty feeling plagued his soul. He had to make it up to Abbie somehow but first he needed to take a quick shower after being splashed by his own body fluids from his distasteful high jink.


	3. Fearing the Worst

 Abbie returns back to the house with a bag of Crane's clothes in one hand and a bag of donuts holes in the other, assuming Crane probably be hungry. She made a pit stop at the bakery on her way back. She drops the duffle bag on the floor when she enters the house.

"Crane!" she called out. She doesn't hear a sound. She looks in her bedroom, bathroom, kitchen. Crane was no where to be found. She checks outside her back patio. Quickly, she takes out her cell phone and calls him. Maybe he might have walked back to the cabin, she guessed, even though the cabin was a good distance, eight miles max. The phone went straight to his voice mail.

Abbie left her house to search for her partner. She thought might have a good chance finding him if she drove through town. Maybe sight him walking around somewhere. As she is driving her eyes catch someone walking along the road by the woods, shirtless and just wearing a bath towel around his waist. She whispers under her breath when she sees him "Crane." She drives right beside him and pushes down the automatic window button to lower the passenger side of the window.

"Crane" she shouts through the window.

He stops and slowly turns his head to look her way.

"Crane, what are you doing out here in the middle of the road?" she turns off the car and gets out.

He looks at her with a mild expression. Abbie walked around the front of the car to get a closer look at him. She noticed something was off in his eyes. He didn't look altogether, his eyes looked spacey. She took a closer look at his pupils. They were dilated. "Crane, are you okay?" she asked looking at him with concern.

"The cabin" he managed to say. His body was shaking. Being outside without any clothes, of course he'd be freezing.

Abbie nods. "Okay,  I'll take you back to the cabin." she quickly gets him into her car. As soon as she gets in she turns on the heater to help keep his body warm. She looks over her shoulder at the back seat to see if she had a spare sweater or jacket lying around. She eyes a jacket that she'd knew he wouldn't be able to fit, as tiny as her body was, but the most she could do was drape it around his back and over his shoulders. She grabs the jacket and hands it to him. He shoots her a look that said 'you expect me to fit into this' Abbie looks back at him with her no-nonsense eyes "Put it around you." she demanded. He does as he's told without questioning her judgment.

While Abbie is driving them back to the cabin she took note at how dazed Crane seemed. All he did was stare out the window with an empty plain expression. Abbie was worried, it wasn't like Crane to be silent and wander off in the middle of the road and why was he still shaking.

He hugs himself and clinches on to her jacket trying to wrap it around him tighter. It was quiet enough for Abbie to hear his teeth clattering. "Mo-ore he-he-heat. Pla-pla-plee-ease." he fumbled to say.

Abbie nods and turns the heat up higher. She focuses on the road again, her eyes troubled, her body is tense. She glances back and forth between Crane and the road. The car was so overheated it felt like she was in a sauna. Crane lifts the jacket up higher around his neck covering it securely. Abbie side eyes him each time he moved to adjust his body to find a comfortable position in his seat. He finally settled in his chair and leans his head back against the head rest closing his eyes. Abbie was relieved he was finally able to relax and rest until they arrived at the cabin.

 When Abbie walks Crane inside the cabin he hurries to the bathroom, throwing her jacket off of his shoulders on the way and slams the door behind him. Abbie jumps from the noise. She hears him vomiting profusely for fifteen seconds. It made sense to her why he didn't look well, she should have known from his symptoms. The dilated eyes, the vomiting, his flushed skin, him complaining about having the chills, his disoriented behavior. The signs were right there in front of her.

She walks closer to the bathroom door and knocks a couple of times. Crane didn't respond. She knocks again "Crane? Are you okay in there?" there's no response. When she turns the knob, slowly opening the door she finds Crane sitting by the toilet bowl with his head lying on the rim of the toilet seat.

"Oh my god, Crane." she flushes the toilet and squats down to brush his hair out of his face. His eyes are shut and his breathing is shallow. She feels his forehead with the back of her hand. Thankfully he wasn't burning up but his skin felt ice cold. "Crane, Crane." she tried to get his attention. "Crane? can you hear me?" He can barely open his eyes.

"Abbie?" he faintly asked, his voice barely audible.

"Yes. It's me Crane." she strokes the side of his cheek affectionately.

He tries to lift his head to get a better look at her but his energy was spent heaving over the toilet. His head collapsed back down on the seat. "I must- I must lie down." he said weakly.

"Okay, I'll help you up." she hooked her arms underneath his pits as she helps him stand on his feet. He pushes himself up on the toilet seat along the way to help out Abbie. She steadies him on his feet while he tempted to find his own balance. Crane was taking tentative steps while Abbie carefully walked him to the bedroom.

After making it to his bed he plops down and lies back with his legs still hanging half way off of the bed. Abbie grabs his legs and swings them around laying them on top of the bed "I do apologize for my ill behavior."

Abbie looks at him. "Crane, you have nothing to apologize for. Your not feeling well. I don't mind taking care of you, you know." she said smiling.

"I have never, not once, have felt this ill before. I don't remember how I even became unwell so sudden." He drapes his arm over his forehead and shuts his eyes. "Pardon me Miss Mills but would you be so kind to shield the sun light coming from the window. A dark material to cover the light would suffice."

She walked over to her closet to see if she could find something of a dark color to drape across the window. She spots a navy blue knitted quilt folded on top of a chest. "Perfect" she said to herself. She grabs the quilt. The window didn't have a curtain rod to drape the quilt over so Abbie had to improvise. She thought of nailing the ends of the quilt up above the window. It wasn't a bad idea. She quickly leaves the room to look for a hammer and nails. She returned with the tools she needed. She takes and places the nail on the left corner of the quilt and begins hammering away. Ichabod lifts his arm to peek at Abbie. The noise and light was too much for him to handle so he grabs his pillow from underneath his head, turns on his side, facing away from the window and covers his entire head with the pillow. He pressing it hard against the side of his face hoping it will help block out the noise. Abbie keeps pounding away until the nail is fully in the wall. She moves to the right side of the window, picks up the other end of the quilt and holds it up checking to make sure the entire quilt is covering the entire window. She holds the nail steady on the quilt and begins hammering it down.

After she had finished she turns to see Crane facing other the direction with his head buried underneath a pillow. "Okay Crane, I'm done." she said out of breath. She walks around to his side of the bed and taps him on his arm. "Crane, Crane." 

He removes the pillow from his face, tossing it by his feet and looks at her with annoyance. "Are you certain? or perhaps there are more objects you could find to clatter so I may be deprived of a moments rest. " He sits up to fetch his pillow near the bottom of the bed.

"Good to know your lovely sarcasm still presents itself even when your sick. You asked a favor from me so I did you one. A simple thank you woulda been nice." She said scaling up a brow being a little sarcastic herself.

He smirks at her weakly then takes his pillow and positions it at the top of the bed so he is able to rest his head onto it. "My apologies. Thank you kindly for..." he looks over at the now covered window "...your help. Very clever Miss Mills." he finished saying, amazed by her creative handy work.

"Thanks." she looks back the blanketed window. "Hopefully that quilt is dark enough to help keep away the sunlight."

"It's perfect. You did a fine job Miss Mills." he lies back and slowly closes his eyes. "Allow me a moments rest. Just a moment." he said slowly drifting off into a welcoming sleep.

"Sure." Abbie grabbed the comforter from the end of the bed and pulled it over his body. "Sleep well Crane." she quietly said, knowing he wouldn't have heard her words, observing, from what she could see, already in a deep slumber.

She walked away and leaves the room quietly closing the door behind her. Her cell phone rings as she enters her living room. She pulls it out. Jenny's name displayed across her screen.

"Jenny."

_"Abbie, everything okay? How did it go last night with Crane?"_

"Oh just dandy. Thanks for warning me about Crane's idea of fun." she walks around the couch and plops down.

_"Yeah, sorry. I didn't have time to explain. Don't feel bad. I got the chance to experience it myself on my way to target. On our way there, first, he pushes the automatic window button up and down, numerous amount of times. That got old real quick. Then constantly kept kicking the dashboard, then grabs the wheel while I'm driving, stirring us into the opposite lane. Luckily there wasn't any on coming traffic."_

Abbie's eyes bulge wide open. She covers her mouth to hide her laughter. The bad behavior Crane had performed in Jenny 's truck reminded her of a time when they were young, around seven years of age. A friend of their mother's was kind enough to offer them a ride to school one morning. The woman's name was Mrs. Woodman. Jenny was in the front seat demonstrating the same obnoxious behavior, mainly to get a rise out of the older woman. It worked well enough for Mrs. Woodman to share with their mother how terribly Jenny conducted in her car. Later when Jenny and Abbie had returned home from school, Jenny had a nice surprise waiting for her. Abbie already suspected what their mother was going to give Jenny after witnessing her sister being dragged to her room alone and seeing the angry look on their mothers face. Abbie was thankful it wasn't her receiving that particular punishment all children had feared. Their mother didn't play around and wasn't going to put up with any nonsense from either one of them. Payback is a bitch. Then Abbie reflected back at how Crane acted and the crap he pulled. She just didn't have in her heart to spank him, even though he _did_ deserve it. Maybe because she knew she could get through to him and teach him a lesson, which never did pan out because of his sudden tummy ache.

" he was definitely a handful but... you no longer have to worry about little Crane. The spell wore off. He's back to adulthood."

_"Really? How did that happen?"_

"I have no idea. All I know is.. when I woke up this morning" Abbie pauses to think about waking up to Crane's naked body. She could either lie about that little detail or fudge around the truth. Telling Jenny the exact truth was out of the question. She would never hear the end of it. Knowing her sister, she would constantly tease and harass Abbie about the situation she found herself in. ".... I peeked inside my bedroom, where he had spent the night and found him back to his old self this morning"

_"hmm, interesting. Well guess I can stop researching a counter spell for his predicament, that has now solved itself. So what are you and Crane up to today?"_

"Right now, Crane is asleep. He's not feeling well and doesn't look so good either. If his condition gets worse, I might have to take him to the hospital." her face went from relaxed to melancholy.

_"Is it that bad?"_

"Hard to say. I won't know until he wakes up."

_"Anything I can do?"_

"Not really. I'm going to stick around and make sure he's okay. Hopefully what ever it is he has going on with him is not serious." she said apprehensively.

_"I'm sure Crane will be fine._ _Try not to worry too much sis. I'll check in with you and Crane later."_

"Thanks Jen." she ends her call and looks down at her phone frowning. She tried her best not to think about the possibilities of what the mysterious illness could be that had taken a hold of Crane. She needed a distraction, something to take her mind off her worries. Watching tv would be a great distraction for her except for the fact it was in Crane's room. The last thing she wanted to do was disturb him. He needed the rest.  The other best option for her is to find a good book to read to busy her mind. She looks around and spots a book sitting on the table waiting for her to dive into. She picks it up and reads the title "A Spiritual Journey through the Five Dimensions of your Mind" She opens the book and notices there was a corner of the page that had been folded down, most likely bookmarked by Crane. It didn't surprise her. Crane was always one to indulge himself into deep intellectual material that he can pull new knowledge from. Abbie turns the page to the first chapter. She leans back against the sofa getting herself comfortable before she begins her read.

 

Crane is tossing his body from side to side. Perspiration beading all over his forehead. Different bizarre images flashes through his dreams. The first image is of Abbie, who is standing by the cabin door outside. It is gloomy, dark and cold outside. Crane calls out to her but it is as if she can't hear him. She walks away from the cabin and heads in the direction of the woods. Crane calls out to her again. Abbie continues straight forward into the woods. He runs behind her trying to keep up. Thick fog appears out of nowhere and shadows the air. The fog was making it hard for him to keep up with her. He walks in her direction in a fast steady pace. His boots make a crunching noise as he steps on broken branches and dried up leaves. He called out to her again after loosing site of her. It is silent. He turns around and sees her standing right front of him. The mist is drifting pass her body. Nothing but empty an expression appears on her face. He reaches his hand out to touch her shoulder. Just as quickly, her flesh starts melting away into a small pool of blood.  Crane eyes grow wide, he jerks his body back, horrified at what is happening to Abbie before his eyes. All that's left is her clothes drowning in the pool of blood. He hears a woman's voice whisper his name. He quickly turns around and sees nothing but the depth of the woods. He hears his named whispered again. He turns back around the other way and eyes a woman dressed in a long red gown, standing right where Abbie's body had dissolved. She whispers his name once more. Everything fades to black.

The previous scene jumped immediately into a different scene. This time, he is inside the cabin. Flashbacks of what happened earlier that morning while Abbie had left to go fetch his clothing replayed through his mind. After he'd dried himself off with the towel, he wraps it around his waist and makes his way to the bedroom. His attention is grabbed by the opened window. He didn't remember leaving the window opened. A sheet of smoke floats past the open space outside the window frame. Crane moves closer to the window and curiously looks outside. He can see nothing but trees in the distance. He reels his head back in, closes the window and locks it. When he turns around he finds a woman lying on his bed. Her hair is long, dark brown, her eyes are light blue, as light as the sky. She was wearing the same long red gown. Her hair parted to the side and pulled back into a low bun. There was something elegant about her beauty. She looked very young, around Abbie's age, her skin was radiant, her body was voluptuous.

Taken off guard, he gasps and jumps,surprised from her presence.

"Who are you?" he asked startled.

"I'm Talia. What is your name handsome one?" she said with an inviting voice, using the tip of her burgundy fingernail to trace the bed sheet in a circular pattern.

He swallows hard before answering to this imposter. "Ichabod Crane." he said lowly. "why are you here?"

She raises her brows "You had summoned me, which, opened a door way to my freedom. I wanted to thank you." she examines his body from head to toe carefully with her eyes.

"Summoned you? I did no such thing" he spats out.

"Did you not rub your thumb over the marking engraved inside the stone?"

"I do not know of the stone you speak of."

"Come now Ichabod. Surely you remember the talisman you and your friend found inside a gentleman's home. I had a run in with this particular gentleman five years ago. He was so naive and sooo fun." Her finger now trails up to her abdomen, all the way up to her breast. "Hawley, I think his name was." she looks away to think for a brief moment. A wicked naughty giggle creeps out of her mouth. "Mr. Hawley. Yes, I remember him quite well. Too bad he wasn't as open minded as I'd thought he'd be. A shame I was too blind to see his true intentions for courting me" she lets out a sigh and shrugs her shoulders. "Oh well."

_Courting? Only a person from an older time would use such a word._

"Are you a demon?" he asked skeptically with narrowed eyes.

She laughs. "No, no demon." she removes herself from the bed and gracefully stalks towards his direction, accenting every movement of her hips. She stops where he stands, her body mere inches apart from his. She takes a good look into his eyes, almost as if she can see his soul. "You have alluring eyes." she complimented smiling charmingly. Her eyes peek down to his bare chest. She places her hand against the soft hairs on his skin that trail down to his navel. He gently removes her hand from his chest.

"Please madam. I'm in no mood for guessing games. If you are not a demon, then, how did you get in here?"

Her eyes look back into his "Not important. You should really be asking yourself why am I wearing this petty towel when I have nothing to hide from this lovely woman." She looks closely at him. Her eyes entrance his. He can do nothing but stare back. She slides her fingers inside the towel and unfolds it from around his waist. He wanted to protest and push her hand away but his body was frozen. Everything was lost to him, his voice, his reflex, his morals. This woman had such an effect on his mind and his body, allowing his blood to boil with burning desire.

The towel drops down to the floor. She takes her hand and caresses the side of his face gently  "You will no longer resist me. You want me. You want my body. You crave it and I shall give it to you. I'm going to give you something special Ichabod Crane. From this moment on, you will be a new man." she takes a step back, looks him over once again before continuing. "Yes, yes I think you'll fit in nicely." She unzips the side of her dress and shimmy's herself out of it. It falls quickly to the floor.

His dream transitions.

Another image appears of him and the woman in bed making love. Heavy breathing, soft moans here and there are the only sounds made between the two. He grabs her leg and bends it into her chest as he pounds into her with such force. His other hand holds down her wrist over her head. Every now and then he lets out a grunt. She grabs the back of his hair pulling his head up so she may look into his eyes. His eyes look sedated and animalistic, like as if he is a predator about to attack his prey. She drops her leg down then repositions it around his waist, her other leg does the same action. He thrust forward with power and need. His hips rolling in a downward motion, grinding hard against hers. Her hips are moving in an upward motion meeting his. She is strong enough to, in one move, flip him on his back and sit astride him. She rakes her nails down his chest leaving reddest marks on his skin.

His dream transitions.

The last image that flashes through his dream is of her leaning over,  sucking on the side of his neck, sucking hard enough to draw blood. Blood trails down to his collarbone. He gasps from the pain. She continues to ride him with erratically. Ichabod is too distracted from the pain to allow his body to feel pleasure. He tried lifting his body up but Talia pushes him back down still sucking the life out of him.

She hears a car approaching, which would be Abbie's car, even though the car is eight miles away, she easily was able to detect the car was en-route to the cabin. She quickly moves herself off of Ichabod in one blink of an eye. He didn't get a good look at Talia before she left. He looked to his right, squinting his eyes viewing the opened window. He gets out of bed and instinctively rubs the side of his neck. The pain was subsiding but his lustful condition wasn't. He needed her, wanted her, just as she said he would. He walks to where his towel lies on the on the floor and picks it up. He wraps it around his waist, tying it on the left side of his hip and heads for the front door.

                                                                 

                                                    ************************************

 

Abbie jolts awake. She could barely catch her breath. Her dream turned into a nightmare that felt all too real. The horseman finally had captured and beheaded her. When she awoke, she was relieved to find herself in the cabin and not in the horseman's custody.

_Must have fallen asleep when I was reading_. She thought.

She looked at her phone to see what time it was. It was going on eight thirty. She got up from the couch to check in on Crane. When she turns to head to the bedroom, she finds his door slightly ajar.

"Crane?" she yelled. Her eyes scattering around the living room. "Crane?" she heard nothing but the sound of crickets chirping to one another in the distant woods. She walks closer and peeks inside his room. There was no sign of Crane. Gathering from the neatly made bed, he left the cabin at some point while she was asleep. She picks her cell to call him.

His phone rings four times before he picks up.

_"Hello leftenant."_ he greeted cheerfully.

"Crane! where are you?" she asked in a panic.

_"I'm taking an outing. After my rest I thought I'd take a stroll down by the lake. Figured the fresh air might help matters."_ He lies. He is nowhere near the lake. Instead, he is making his way to the front door of a dive bar ten miles away from the cabin.

"Why didn't you wake me? Crane, you're in no condition to be out. Unless your condition improved that quick."

_"Actually it has. I do apologize for not waking you. I did not want to deprive you of your peaceful slumber. Fear not Leftenant, the night shall not be my enemy."_ He is now standing directly infront of the black wooden door to the bar. His eyes looks up at the bright neon yellow sign displaying the name of the run-down joint.

"What does _that_ mean?" she moved the phone away from her ear for a split second giving a puzzled look before putting back to her ear again.     

_"What it means Leftenant is, not to worry. It is a wonderful evening. The sky is clear, a lovely whisper of  the breeze fills the air, this is surely an evening to embrace. Now if you will excuse me Leftenant, I must take advantage of this delightful evening. Please, do not wait up."_ and with his final words he ends the call. He allows the phone to slip from his grasp and fall to the ground without a care. The phone hits the ground hard enough for the screen to crack.

He turns the knob slowly to open the door. His face is pale and his expression is distant. His hair hangs loose, the front strands falling forward contouring the sides of his cheekbones. His shirt untucked. His coat unbuttoned and opened. His appearance was unusual and out of place from his norm.

Abbie hears the call disconnect on his end and looks at her phone for a second with a disturbed expression. She heard Crane's words and even though his voice sounded fine something still felt off about him. He came off too chipper for a man who was showing illness four hours ago. She sensed it was as almost as if he was trying to convince her he was better. Abbie wanted to search for him but tried to convince herself to let him be.

 


	4. Love at First Taste

Crane stumbles inside the small run-down establishment. The atmosphere was filled with the rowdiest crowd from truckers to bikers, with a few rednecks that lingered by the pool table, drinking their beers, watching a few young ladies across the room with predatory eyes. A heavy metal song was playing on the overhead speakers mounted on the upper corner of the walls. Most likely a song chosen by one of the roughnecks standing by the jukebox.

Crane stops to get a good look at all the patrons scattered in different areas of the tacky establishment. The sound of a woman laughing loudly near the far end of the bar draws his attention. He eyes a young blonde, wearing a tight fitting shirt that advertises the shape of her breast, her denim skirt hugs her hips and stops at mid thigh. He stares at the back of her long wavy hair in a trance like state for a good three minutes before he begins to approach her slowly from behind. The woman is chatting it up with the tall stocky muscular bartender that looks as if he could pass as a bouncer.

Once Crane gets close enough behind her he raises his hands and gently places them on top of her shoulders. The bartender gives Crane a dirty look as if he had no business intruding on his territory. The woman instantly stops laughing the moment Crane laid his hands on her. She doesn't bother to turn around to get a good look at the mysterious stranger standing behind her. She just holds still keeping a smile on her face. Crane looks back at the bartender with cautionary eyes letting him know he is no mood to be badgered. The bartender didn't bother to greet or ask if Crane needed anything. Instead he grabbed the woman's empty martini glass and ask If she would like another. The woman was about to answer his question when Crane leans his head down to the left side of her neck, his mouth inches from her ear and whispers "A simple beverage cannot provide what your body truly is thirsting for." 

"Hey buddy! I don't think the lady asked for your input." the bartender loudly vocalized.

Crane's looks at him with a smug smile. He straightens up, keeping his eyes glued to the bartender. He folds his hands behind his back and slowly tilts his head to the side "Are you her keeper?"

The bartender looks at Crane as if he's crazy "Excuse me?"

"Are. You. Her. Keeper?" Crane asked again slowly.

The bartender snorts out a laugh from the absurd question "No" he answered shaking his head

"Then head my warning. Do not interfere."

The woman's smile starts to fade, anticipating an altercation that is likely to happen between the two men. The bartender puts the martini glass down near the sink and glares angrily at Crane. "Well I think it's time for you to leave." He leans forward against the counter staring down Crane.

"Really?" Crane laughs out the word arching his left brow.

"Yes. Really. Either you leave right now or I'll have you kicked out."

"On what grounds? I have done nothing wrong."

"You're disrespecting the lady." the bartender spat out.

"How so?" Crane questions.

"By touching her without her permission. Isn't that right Sandy?" the bartender asked as the young lady sits as still as a statue pretending as if there isn't an argument happening between the two men.

Crane looks down at the woman who still refuses to turn around and give him her attention. "Have I shown you any disrespect madam?"

The young woman finally twist her body around to look at Crane. When her eyes take sight of him a bright charming smile forms on her face. She was speechless and surprised to see how handsome the stranger who chose to speak on her behalf was. Crane waits patiently for her answer to his question. The woman looks over her shoulder at the bartender "Lay off Kyle. " she looks at Crane again and winks. "He's harmless. and no Mr.?... what is your name hun?"

Crane bows down gracefully before her. "You can call me Ichabod." He raises up and carefully takes her hand in his, lifting it up to his lips kissing it. "And may I have the pleasure of knowing yours?"

"Sandy" she replies smiling from ear to ear.

"It is certainly a pleasure Sandra." he kisses the back of her hand again before lowering it back down.

Sandy lets out a little giggle, tickled by Crane's charm. The bartender just rolls his eyes and walks away.

Crane steps closer to whisper in her ear again. "It is dangerous for a beautiful young lady such as yourself to be alone in an atmosphere crawling with vultures lurking, waiting to attack a harmless young maiden."

Sandy sucks in a breath. The feel of Cranes breath hitting against her ear was lighting her body on fire. The deep husky tone in his voice made the hair on her skin rise. She was easily won over by Crane's suave demeanor and charm.

"There is one thing you overlooked." she whispered back into his other ear.

"Do Tell."

"I'm not alone. Not anymore... and I am in no danger because I know you will keep me safe."

Crane jerks his head back to look into her eyes "What makes you so sure?"

She traces her finger up and down the v shape cut of her shirt that gives a good view of her cleavage. "for one, you're not like these other pigs here. The men here usually don't care about my well being. All they care about is how fast they can get me drunk so they can to the backseat of their car for a quick screw. But you, you're not like other men. You're different, you have not yet tried taking advantage of me which I'm surprised to hear myself say, I'm a little disappointed. Only because it's not often I get approached by a tall, handsome man with a sexy accent, I might add. Plus, I never seen anyone dress the way you do. You're sense of fashion is um.... very interesting." she teased, playfully plucking at the sleeve of his frock.

Crane looks himself over really quick then back to her. He was unclear as to what her last comment implied pertaining to his attire. "Are you- are you mocking my clothing?"

A high pitched laugh escapes her mouth, she slaps his arm playfully. "No. I only meant you have a unique taste in fashion that... you wear, _very_ , well."  she expressed in a seductive manner.

"Why thank you" he said smiling smugly back at her.

"Wanna get out of here?"

"Would love to." he takes her hand while looking at her enticingly. She slides off of her stool and allows him to lead the way. 

They walk outside to her car hand in hand. As soon as they arrive at her grey Mercedes, Crane pulls her in close for a kiss. Sandy didn't even have a chance to breath, his lips attacked hers in a matter of seconds. They kiss for another minute, sucking and biting on each others lips. He lets go of her hand to hold her by her waist, pulling her body up against his chest to chest. She combs her hands through his hair, one hand moves underneath his hair holding the back of his neck, the other hand grips his right shoulder. His lips press against hers fiercely. He moves her backwards while they are kissing. She feels her behind bump against the hood of her car. She pushes him away so she may catch her breath. He stares back at her with hungry wanton eyes.

"Not here. Why don't I drive us somewhere more secluded." a naughty grin curves across her lips. He just nods in agreement. They get in her car and drive off.

 

                                             ********************************************************

 

The sound of a door slamming pulls Abbie out from her sleep. She sits up straightaway looking around in alarm. She had decided to go against Crane's request and wait for him to return to the cabin. While she was waiting up for him she'd ended up watching a movie that eventually lulled her to sleep. She immediately stands up and looks back at the bedroom door. She noticed it was closed.

_I don't remember closing the bedroom door last night. Crane must be back. I'll go see if he's alright._

She walks anxiously to the door. She turns the knob. Before she could fully open the door all the way, Crane quickly slams the door shut in her face. Abbie just looks at the door stunned for a minute. She tries opening the door again but wasn't able to. The weight of his body pressed against the door made it hard for her to push the door open.

"Crane?" she jiggles the knob "Crane let me in." she demanded.

"I apologize Leftenant but I cannot."

"Are you alright? Where you been? Are you just getting back?"

"Yes. I just- " ...he squeezes his eyes shut for a moment. Trying to control his breathing. "-I just need - to rest. Please, I would prefer to be alone. " he pleaded.

Abbie felt he wasn't telling her the truth but didn't want to press the issue. She planned on asking him again later what was wrong with him and why the sudden need to isolate himself. For the time being she'd leave him alone as he requested.

"Alright, as long as you're okay."

"I'll be quite fine Miss Mills."

"Okay, uh... I guess I'll go." she said shrugging her shoulders then slapping her hands against the side of her thighs. "I'll call you later to check up on you."  she doesn't hear a peep on the other end.

She walked away from the door looking troubled knowing it wasn't like him to cut their communication short.

 

After she had left the cabin, she decided to head home. On the drive to her house she sees a car parked on the side of the road with a woman's arm dangling outside the passenger window. Abbie drives up slowly behind the car and pushes her foot down on the breaks to put the car in park. She gets out to investigate.

When she walks closer to the passenger side of the car she covers her mouth gasping at the horrific view of a dead woman, who's body was partially covered in blood that stemmed from her neck trailing down in between her chest all the way down to her stomach stopping at her thighs. Abbie dips her head inside the window to take a closer look at the woman. She immediately lifts her hand to cover her nose to block out the overwhelming smell coming from dead body.  

The woman appeared to be a young blonde in her late twenties. Her shirt was ripped opened in the middle exposing her red laced bra , she was sitting in her seat wearing nothing but red laced panties. Abbie could see two punctured marks on the left side of her neck. She noticed something different about the marks on the lower side of the woman's neck. It looked as if something had bit her.

Abbie hurries to her car and grabs her phone to call Jenny and Irvin. She didn't want to get any other cops involved knowing a demon or one of Moloch's minions might of had something to do with the victims death. Jenny and Irvin agreed to meet Abbie in fifteen minutes. After she finished her call she gets out of her car to walk back to the grey Mercedes. This time Abbie checks the drivers side and opens the door. An odd button lying on the seat caught her attention. She grabs the button for a closer observation.

_This could be a button that belonged to a shirt, possibly a jacket, maybe even the cuff of a sleeve._

She stashed the button away in the pocket of her pants for further research. She sits in the driver seat this time and opens up the glove compartment searching for anything that will help identify the victim. She rummages through unpaid tickets,  a car payment, some business cards with gentlemen's phone numbers. Abbie closes the glove compartment and then checks inside the sun visor on both her and the passengers side. She came up empty. Abbie examines the backseat to see if there's anything lying around. She spots a denim jacket. She grabs the jacket and checks the pockets. A smile swept across her face when she finds the victims wallet in the left pocket. She opens the wallet and pulls out a driver's license.

"San-dra Bur-ton" she read aloud. "Hmm. Wonder what attacked you Sandra. What ever _it_  was, it sure as hell had no mercy on you" she mumbled to herself while looking through the rest of her wallet. There wasn't much else inside her wallet. Just a twenty dollar bill, a credit card and a few plastic wrappers sealed with condoms.

Abbie took another look at the condoms "Better safe than sorry" she quipped.

She folds her wallet closed and tucks it inside her other pant pocket. She gets out the car in time to see Frank and Jenny approaching in her pick up truck. Abbie stands and waits for them to pull off the side of the road and park. After exiting the truck, they walk towards Abbie looking confused.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked.

Abbie guides the two of them to the passenger side of the victims car. Abbie steps to the side allowing them a good view of the victim. Jenny twists her face up in disgust. Frank immediately bends over, turning his face in the opposite direction gagging and coughing while covering his nose.

Abbie just looks at them "I know, not a pleasant smell."

Jenny covers her nose as well. "What happened?"

"You got me." shrugging her shoulders.  "Found the victim not too long ago."

Frank straightens up his body and turns back around to face them. He coughs out his next statement. "looks like manslaughter to me."

"Doubt it. Found two bite marks on the right side of her neck. Whatever did this," she speaks the next words quietly "-it wasn't human."

"You think it was a demon?" Frank asked.

"Not sure. Could have been an animal."

"Did you call it in?" Jenny asked.

"No, and I'm not going to. Don't want to get the police involved when we don't know what were dealing with. This is our department and our department on-ly." She said looking at Frank and Jenny.

They both nod there head in understanding.

"What about Crane?" Jenny asked.

"Right now Crane is, going through something."

"So he is not aware of this incident." Jenny said.

"No I haven't talked to him about it. Actually, I just left the cabin not too long ago.  I was heading back home."

"What's going on with Crane?" Frank asked.

"I don't know. I just know he's been sick. I stayed at the cabin yesterday to make sure he was alright. I ended up sleeping over. Woke up in the middle of the night and went to his bedroom to check in on him, next thing I knew, he was gone. He returned this morning."

"Is he okay?" Jenny inquired.

"He said he was fine but, but something tells me, he's not." she said staring off into the distance. "He seemed, closed off. He'd asked me to leave him alone to rest. That's when I decided to head home." she solemnly said looking back at the two.

"Hm. Sounds like he's still not up to par. Hopefully rest will do him good. In the meantime, we need to study the bite marks on our Jane Doe, figure out what could have attacked her and -"

"-Her name is Sandra Burton" Abbie intervenes.

"How did you know her name?" Frank asked her.

Abbie pulls the victims wallet out of her pocket and holds it up in the air half grinning. "Found this in her jacket." she hands the wallet to Frank.

He opens it and takes a look at her license. Jenny peeks in the window to get a closer look at the bite marks on the woman's neck. She grabs her cell from her back pocket and takes photos of the woman's wounds.

"Shit, whatever did this, it definitely wasn't human." Jenny moves the phone closer to the woman's neck to get clearer shots.

 

                                                ***************************************

 

Crane is sweating profusely all over his body. The sheets have been tossed off of him. He lies on his back isolating his head from left to right in rapid movement. He whimpers from the graphic visions flashing through dreams. His is breathing is unsteady, panting like an animal basking in the sun. His hands subconsciously grips the sheet by his sides in a tight ball. His hair is soaked from sweat. What he'd buried deep inside his memories the night before came to surface, replaying the tragic scene in his dream.

The scene begins with him and Sandra making out like a couple of teenagers in the front seat of her car. During their intimate encounter, Crane rips her shirt open in the middle and moves his hand down between her bra all the way to her inner thigh. He slides his hand underneath her skirt towards her panties. He massages her slick center through her thin silk panties. Sandra breaks away from the kiss, moaning repeatedly from the pleasure. He looks at her with sedated eyes for a second before he searches for her lips again. She puts her hand on his chest, stopping him from leaning in.

"Hey," she said out of breath " How about we move to the backseat."

He shakes his head slowly no, then tugs the end of her skirt. "You my dear, must get rid of this barrier preventing my lips from fully servicing you the upmost pleasure I'm sure no other man is capable of providing."

She smiles and quickly undoes her button then her zipper. He sits back in his seat giving her the space that she needs to reposition her body to pull off her skirt. She lifts her ass up off her seat an inch, enough to wiggle herself out of her skirt and slide it down her legs. Once she was done she lowers her ass back down on her seat and looks back at him still smiling with anticipation. His preying eyes move down her body to moon over her red laced underwear and then draws his eyes slowly back up to hers. He leans in to attack her lips again. She squeals in the back of throat. Taken off guard by his eagerness. She kisses him back with the same greed for his touch. She slides her hand inside the front of his shirt, rubbing his chest hairs smoothly. He moves his tongue in and out of her mouth. She moans like a tramp in heat. He moves his mouth away from hers, she whines from the loss of his lips. His mouth drags softly along her cheek down to underneath her jawline. He stops there for a minute to nibble and suck on her flesh. She grabs the back of his hair, pushing his head into her neck. He moves his hand down to her center and uses his fingers to massage her clit in a small circle. Her head falls back, moaning in ecstasy. She moves her hand from his chest and taps the back of his shoulder.

"Hey, I thought your lips was going to give me something special you claim other men can't, in a particular area that needs your attention."

He lifts up his head for second. "I do not know of which area you speak of?"

Feeling to aroused to speak, she tried to make it clear through shaky breaths "Yes you do. Well your hand does." 

He stops and looks down at his hand. "Right, of course." She brings her head forward to look at him. "I shall taste you-" he gazes back at her "-after I kiss, you." He leans in, kissing her hard and forced. His lips parts away to indulge in her neck again, this time his mouth moves to her lower neck. He slides his tongue against her skin while kissing her neck tenderly. Her eyes fluttered closed, her head falls back against the head restraint. She feels his mouth sucking and sucking greedily on her skin until it became a little unbearable. His teeth scraped at her skin, his hand stopped penetrating her clit and grabbed her thigh, squeezing it hard enough to cut off the circulation in her blood. She taps the back of his shoulder repeatedly to get his attention but Crane paid no mind. He continued to gnaw at her neck to his liking.

Crane felt a small urge to taste her flesh from the moment they walked out of the bar and his hunger was growing stronger. It wasn't enough to just taste her sweet salty skin, he needed to taste what was inside of her.  He felt his canines forming into fangs. He didn't have a clue as to what was happening to him nor did he care. He just knew he needed to feed.

Sandra tried pushing him off of her. The pain he was inflicting became too much for her to handle.

"Oww, Oww! you're hurting me. Please stop. You're hurting me."

Crane kept digging his teeth into her skin. He broke away for a second looking at her with apologetic eyes.

She opens her eyes and looks at him with forgiveness. "Easy there tiger. Not so rough." she rubs the side of her neck unaware he'd already punctured her skin.

He looks away "Forgive me, I had to taste you -" she feels something wet on her neck. She takes a look at her hand. Her eyes grow wide at site of her own blood smeared on her palm. She quickly looks back at him in fear.  He slowly connected his eyes with her. His eyes looked demonic. 

He continues. "-and now that I have, I want more." She opens her mouth to scream but he covers her mouth with his hand while diving his fangs into her flesh without warning. He bites deep into her skin, feeding on as much blood as he could to satisfy his hunger. Some the blood spills out from the corner of his mouth dripping down the side of his beard. The blood travels from her neck, all the way down her cleavage, ending at her inner thigh.

She tried fighting him off, clawing at his shirt, ripping off a button in the process. She was not able to defend herself, the strength of his body over powered hers. He held her legs still with his other hand stopping her from kicking his chins. The sound of her screams were muffled from his hand.

He continued sucking on her neck until she was drained dry. After awhile she stopped screaming when he consumed way more blood than he'd planned. Her head went limp as it fell to the side. He broke away from her skin with blood smeared around his mouth. He looked back at the defenseless woman that was leaning against the window staring down at her legs. Instantly, he pulls his other hand away from her mouth to cover his own in revulsion.

"No, no she can't be." he waves his hand in front of her eyes. She doesn't blink nor flinch. He suspected she was dead the moment her screams came to a halt but needed to see it for himself.

"What have I done?" he whispered as his hand drops from his mouth down to his lap. 

His eyes dart around when he hears a car approaching five miles away. He looks around but doesn't see any sign of a vehicle. The noise of the engine gets louder meaning the vehicle wasn't far from where they were parked. All he could think to do was to drive the car to another location. He grabs the keys off of the dash board. His hand was shaking so badly from nerves. He accidently dropped the keys on the floor.  He quickly picks them up and puts the key in the ignition. It was no use. The car wouldn't start. He looked closer at the fuel gauge to see it was on empty.  He started to panic.

"No, no, no, no."  he kept repeating enough times to wake himself up from his own nightmare. He sits up abruptly in his bed breathing hard. He quickly looks around to examine his surroundings. He lets out a breath of relief after realizing he was at the cabin in his own bed. It was all too real for him but was glad to know it was just a dream, or so he thought.

 


End file.
